


Catch Your Scent

by Clankit



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Alpha Hancock, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, F/M, First Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics Fanfiction, Help, I Don't Even Know, I don't know what I'm doing, I've never written one of these types of fanfictions, Incomplete, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Omega Female Soul Survivor, Omega Sole Survivor, On an unofficial hiatus, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-08
Updated: 2017-03-21
Packaged: 2018-05-05 14:18:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5378300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clankit/pseuds/Clankit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sure, Hancock had smelled plenty of pleasing scents. Omegas, betas, even alphas while he was one himself.</p>
<p>But when she walked into town, he did a double take.</p>
<p>
  <em>Holy fuck.</em>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've never done one of these types of fanfictions, so I'll probably get something wrong.

 When Nora was pregnant with Shaun, Nate was overjoyed.

She was not.

Sure, they were finally starting a family. Yes, Nora was in love with Nate. Yes, she did want to have a child. She didn’t just want to have one at that moment.

Being a woman? Made it hard to do anything. She had to fight tooth and nail to get a law degree. But being an omega? Way worse. As if being female wasn’t enough, she had to be the ‘weakest’ secondary gender. Every omega, even male omegas, were expected to get married and have pups. Not have jobs. So having a pup meant it was the end of her having free expression of who she was, really. Now she had to become a pretty home omega. Still, she loved Nate, and she loved her unborn pup. She would just have to have some time to adjust. And she did. She had Shaun, and everything was fine.

And then the bombs came.

When Nora emerged into the new world, the first thing that surprised her was when she started getting shot at. By an omega. And then she meant Preston Garvey, the last remaining Minutemen, and the leader of a small group of people. But he was a beta, and was the leader even though there was an alpha named Sturges in the group.

And then Nora realized it.

In the future, your second gender could be whatever the fuck it was, and you could still be strong. You could be brave. Nobody cared.

Of course, omegas will still almost always physically weaker. People still felt protective of omegas, naturally. But in terms of a job? Didn’t matter. You could be an alpha and farm. You could be an omega and guard a town. betas were no longer just workers, they could do anything. Anyone could.

It was great, and Nora felt guilty.

She enjoyed the post-apocalyptic world better than she had enjoyed the previous one. She felt terrible. After all, shouldn’t she miss Nate? And Shaun, her missing son? She did. But not as much as she felt she should have.

When she became General of the Minutemen, she was bursting with pride. She had done it her own way, what people from her time would’ve called the ‘omega’ way, and it worked fine. No one called her weak, or stupid, or said she was trying to be an alpha. No one cared she was an omega.

So it was a bit of a disappointment when she went to Diamond City and meant the proud alpha that Mayor McDonough was and found out there was still some arse alphas around. She hadn’t expected the whole world to be perfect and rosy, of course, since there was people shooting each other all the time, but still. Turned out the apocalypse hadn’t made everyone appreciate all genders after all. Oh well.

When Nora stormed Skinny Malone’s place and fought a bunch of Triggermen, she felt alive. More alive than usual. She was pumping with adrenaline. Sure, she had fought some raiders, and some feral ghouls, but never anyone this close. So it wasn’t too surprising that after meeting Nick, finding out was a synth was and that he was one, and that he claimed to be an alpha but she could only smell metal and motor oil from him, she went into heat.

She had totally forgotten about her damned heat. She had been so used to not having one, after her being pregnant, but she supposed being trapped in ice for 200 years was more than enough time to bring her heats back. And her bond bite seemed to have faded, too. She probably could get a new mate if she wanted, but she wasn’t interested in that and probably wouldn’t be for a long time. Now her only remaining connection to Nate was her wedding ring. And she had left that back in Sanctuary.

If she had been with anyone, _anyone_ , besides Nick, she probably would have been mated and impregnated.

But, luckily, _luckily_ , he was able to sit calmly and explain while she was begging for a knot that he could, infact, turn off his desire to mate at anytime. “One of the benefits of being an early prototype.” he had called it. “Infact, I don’t even have a real knot.” He said gently as he forced her into a room with a bed and a couple of dildos he had managed to scrape together. “In Diamond City, people usually trust me with their heats, since I’m one of the few alphas that doesn’t want to knot every omega they see. I’ve already done stuff like this many times. And I’m sorry, kid.” he said as he locked the door. “I would give you suppressants, but from what you’ve told me, your body hasn’t done this in a long time, and it’s going to be a doozy.”

Later, after Nora was no longer begging for Nick to find anyone, any alpha to give her their knot, with a red face she asked how long it had been.

“Almost two weeks. To be honest, I’m surprised you can still walk upright.” She saw a rare smirk as he puffed a cigarette.

“Shut it,” she said, punching him playfully in his metal arm, which luckily wasn’t that hard. “Now let’s get out of this damned vault. Why did we have to set up shop here?”

He looked at her. “Nora, I have a synthetic nose. I cannot smell anything. And yet, I swear, the scent of your heat reached even my nostrils.” He puffed out some smoke again. “If we had left this vault, alphas, betas, hell even some extra feisty omegas would’ve been begging for a chance to mate you.” He shook his head. “You're damn lucky it happened here, and with me.”

Nora hummed thoughtfully. “What about the Triggermen and Skinny Malone? What happened to them?” She had convinced the girl to leave, not wanting to cause any unnecessary bloodshed. 

Nick shrugged, and they continued on their way.

When Nora fought Kellogg, the biggest asshole she had ever seen, it took her a while to get him down. Luckily, Nick had come along for the ride, or she might not have made it. The synths all went for him, probably feeling a sense of betrayal that he was fighting for the opposite side or something. And that left Nora to defend herself against Kellogg.

And while she did, he did get a few good shots on her. Enough that Nick almost wanted to carry her back Diamond City, but she refused. When they finally got to Nick’s office, all she wanted to do was see if she could collapse on his couch, but then of course the beta named Piper Nora had ran into when she was entering Diamond City and showed up. She told Piper what had happened, and they discussed what to do next. When they finally decided to go to the Memory Den, Nora sighed in relief and black out on Nick’s couch. They could head there tomorrow. Or maybe a few days after that.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some of the time Hancock wished he wasn’t an alpha.

Sure, it made running Goodneighbor a hell of alot easier, since any knot-head alpha wouldn’t have a problem dealing with him. But it made omegas so distrustful of him. And he got that, he really did. They had to be wary around any unfamiliar alphas, since it was way too easy to bond with an alpha if they just decided to jump you. Poor omegas.

So, all in all, Hancock was glad he was an alpha. Made sex very fun, although he was sure he would have fun if he was an omega, too. Oh well.

The first time an omega tried to throw themselves at him, Hancock hadn’t been able to resist himself. Fahrenheit had to hold him back, and that was exactly why he had gotten a female beta as a bodyguard. KL-E-0 had taken the omega away into a shack for omegas to have their heats in, unless there was suppressants on hand. Hancock felt terrible. He found that being a ghoul seemed to help, as previously in Diamond City he’d be locked in his room whenever an omega had their heat. For a time while, he took chems whenever an omega went into heat, not even risking it. But then, slowly, he got better at being more cautious around omegas, til the point where he was able to help omegas into the heat shack.

Hancock’s nostrils were flooded with the scent of an omega, and he had to pause as his thoughts were momentarily taken over by _mate, breed, mine, breed, mate, omega, mate_.

After glancing at Fahrenheit and motioning for her to stay where she was, he walked as slowly as his body allowed down the stairs and outside the old state building. He was paused for a moment by a drifter to ask if he could spare some chems, but after turning them away his eyes followed that spectacular scent.

Sure, Hancock had smelled plenty of pleasing scents. omegas, betas, even alphas while he was one himself.

But when she walked into town, he did a double take.

_Holy fuck._

He saw her warily enter through the gates, nostrils flaring as the scents of new alphas, omegas and betas flooded her nose.

And if it wasn’t just her fantastic scent, she was beautiful. His eyes and nose took her in, and he sighed in relief as he watched Nick follow her.

_She’s in good company._

And then fucking Finn walked up.

Hancock could see the way he eyed her, and Hancock wanted nothing more than to rip Finn’s throat out.

_No one eyes my omega like that._

It took Hancock a second to realize what he had called her.

He stood back, going over how he was not to badger this omega in his head, and he had to make them feel welcome, but his thought process stopped as he heard Finn say “Come on, don’t be like that.” Anything else Finn said was blocked out by the blood pounding in his ears.

“Woah, woah, time out.” Hancock tried not to look at the beautiful omega that had entered his town, but he did anyways, and he saw her intake sharply and her eyes widen as she looked at him.“Someone steps through the gate the first time, they’re a guest. You lay off the extortion crap.”

“What’d you care? She ain’t one of us.”

It took all of Hancock’s will to not say ‘That’s my fucking omega, and if you don’t step down right now I will tear your fucking throat out with my bare teeth like a feral.’ Instead, he responded as calmly as he could with “No love for you mayor, Finn? I said let her go.”

“You’re soft, Hancock. You keep letting outsiders walk all over us, one day there’ll be a new mayor.” Finn rasped.

_You come into my town, you badger my omega, and now you insult me? Not a smart move, Finn._ “Come on, man. This is me we’re talking about. Let me tell you something.” Hancock sauntered towards the alpha, and put his arm around around his shoulder and leaned in. “You bothered my omega. You’re fucking dead.” he whispered in Finn’s ear, but didn’t even give him enough time to show fear on his face before he stabbed him. “Now why’d you have to go and say that, huh? Breaking my heart over here.”

He let Finn’s body drop where it lay, and turned instead to face his- _the_ omega. “You alright, sister?”

Her eyes widened, startled. “Fine, alph- sir.” She stuttered out, and Hancock saw her blush. He decided to ignore it for now, though. omegas could be like that if they meant a new alpha.

He saw Nick’s eyes narrow, and he turned his attention back to the omega. “Goodneighbor’s of the people, for the people, you feel me? Everyone’s welcome.”

She nodded, and Hancock grinned. He saw Nick’s eyes narrow even further, and he quickly turned away to go back inside his building and make a speech to distract himself.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nick raised a painted on eyebrow at her, and she shuffled her feet as Hancock stepped out onto the balcony. “People of Goodneighbor! We freaks gotta stick together…”

“Seems like someone has a little crush.” he whispered to her as Hancock continued his speech.

“It’s not my fault!” She hissed back at him. “It was my body responding, not-” their side conversation ended when KL-E-0 shushed them both threateningly.

“Wasn’t my fault.” She grumbled to herself quietly, staring up at Hancock. She felt her pulse quicken, and she opened her mouth to draw in more of that delicious scent he was producing, before quickly shutting it and glaring at her boots. “Just my body.”

“And who’s in charge of Goodneighbor?!”

“Hancock! Of the people, for the people!” The audience cried out, and the crowd soon started to disperse. She looked back up when Nick touched her shoulder, and as she followed him to the Memory Den, she whispered again,

“It’s just my body.” And it was, of course. She just hoped it stayed that way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will probably have two chapters, but knowing me, I'm probably going to go past that.
> 
> What made me think about writing this was the fact I checked the soultmate tag for Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 and was like 'hmm. I'm the first one to write a soulmate au.' (My other work Someone Like Me). And now I'm the first one to write an Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics Au.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Let’s see here.” Nick sat down in the chair, and for a couple seconds the doctor fiddled with the back of his head before speaking again. “I need you to keep talking to me, Mister Valentine. Any slight change in your cognitive functions could be dire.”
> 
> Nora raised an eyebrow. “Is it possible you could change… his secondary gender, per say?”

Nora groaned as she stepped inside the Memory Den, glaring at Nick, who simply smirked and said nothing. She hated to admit it, but Hancock had affected her. She hadn’t met another alpha that had had such a strong effect on her since Nate, which made sense, as she had been mated for 5 years before the detonation of nuclear bombs and had been dating him for 7. But now? Oh boy. Hancock’s scent was just _delicious_. Nora wanted to rub herself all over him. And he wasn’t that bad looking, at least for a ghoul. Nora was probably going to be jittery for the entire day now. She felt like she was on Jet, except for an extended period of time.

She wondered if any chem would help fix that. Probably. But people were wary of giving omegas any chems, or at least during their heat. So far from asking local omegas, she knew that Jet would slow the heat down if you took it right before it started, but it would make the heat last longer. Buffout made the heat more bearable, although some people said that it made you be unable to have pups. Mentats apparently had no effect whatsoever. But all of it was rumors, pure rumors, but rumors are based on truth. It was rare to find suppressants that were good, the only ones left being only working half the time unless you took a lot of them. But most people _did_ take a lot of them, rather than risk the alternative.. No one wanted to be caught with a horde of feral ghouls attacking you and have an omega in heat thrashing around in a locked room at the same time.

Nora was jerked out of her thoughts by the look Nick was giving, standing at the top of the stairs that led to the basement. “Are you coming, or are you just gonna stand there all day until your hair turns gray?”

Nora sighed, casting her thoughts out of her mind and gently pushing Nick out of the way, still glaring at him. “Shut up.”

“Hey, I didn’t say anything!” He protested, although there was a smile on his face as he followed her down the stairs.

Dr. Amari was a short black haired omega who sighed at Nora’s grimace and Nick’s unhappy expression. “I take it this isn’t a social call.” She looked at Nora expectantly.

“This one’s all yours, Nick.” Nora gestured to the synth. She was still too hyped up from meeting a hot fertile alpha. Where was some purified water when you needed it? Luckily, there was some cans of it on a counter nearby, along with some Rad-X and RadAway. Nora grabbed a can of water, and looked longingly at the RadAway, but dropped her empty hand to her side before sighing and popping the can open to take a gulp.

Nick cleared his synthetic throat with a synthetic cough. “We need a memory dig, Amari.” His gold eyes bored seriously into Amari’s. Nora finished the can and quietly set it back on the counter, accidentally knocking over the two other cans with a loud _clang_ . Nora winced as the alpha and the omega looked at her with a sense of bafflement and irritation. Hey, she was clumsy right after meeting a possible mat- _Whoa, where did that come from?_

Shaking her head, she immersed herself back in the conversation by politely folding her hands and giving the two a nod. With one last glance at her, they return to their previous conversation. "It's not going to be easy. The perp, Kellog, is already cold on the floor."

“Are you two _mad_?” Amari asks, throwing her hands up in the air for empathize her point. “Putting aside the fact that you’re asking me to _defile a corpse_ , you do realize that the memory simulators require intact living brains to function?”

Nora looked at Amari with desperation, all embarrassment from knocking the water over gone. “Please. Nick told me you’re the only one who can make this work.” Huh, and any effect Hancock had had on her seemed to have vanished as well. Maybe the water really _did_ work. She’d have to remember that for later.

“This dead brain had inside knowledge of the Institute, Amari. The biggest scientific secret of the Commonwealth. You need this, and so do we.” Nora spared a pitying glance at the poor alpha. It was one thing to be hated by many, but to hate your own creators… Or at least Nick probably hated them, judging by his bitter tone and the way his fists clenched and unclenched.

The doctor’s gaze softened and she grumbled for a second before speaking. “Fine… I’ll take a look, but no guarantees.” She warned them. “Do you have it with you?”

Nick pulled out an object from his trench coat pocket and handed it to Amari. “Here’s what I could find.”

She tutted as she examined the object. “What’s this? This isn’t a brain. This is… wait.” The omega’s eyes widened, and she spoke again, this time in a much more excited fashion. “That’s the hippocampus! And this thing attached to it. A neural interface?”

Nick shuffled awkwardly. “Those circuits look awfully familiar.”

Humming in confirmation, she continued. “I’m not surprised. From what I’ve seen, all Institute technology has similar architecture.”

Suddenly, Nora’s mouth started speaking without consulting her first. “Nick’s an older model synth. Is he compatible?” Her mouth went dry as what she had just said. That seemed like a _horrible_ suggestion. Nora quickly glanced at Nick to gage his reaction. He was silent, but Nora thought his eyes were downcast. She felt horrible for blurting that out, and resented that part of her that disliked it because he was an alpha. Hell, the only reason it wasn’t a larger part of her was because he was synthetic; if it had been Hancock, she would’ve immediately apologized and be asking for forgiveness like a worried pup. And fuck, now she was thinking about Hancock again. Curse that damn alpha.

She set it down on a table, and turned back to the two. “That’s exactly what I was thinking. If we’re lucky, it should hook right in.” Surprisingly, she hadn’t seemed to notice Nick or Nora’s sudden discomfort. “But even if this works, Mister Valentine would be taking on a _tremendous_ amount of risk. We’re talking about wiring something to his brain.”

“Don’t worry about me, Amari. Let’s do it.” Nora blinked, and almost hugged him right there and then.

“Thanks Nick. I appreciate this.” Her voice wavered, and she could feel tears began to form in the pinpricks of her eyes. She quickly wiped them away on her suit’s sleeve.

Nick smiled at her and rested a hand gently on her shoulder. “You can thank me when we’ve found your son.” He tensed as he turned back to Dr. Amari. “All right, let’s do this.” His hand dropped from her shoulder.

“Whenever you’re ready, Mister Valentine.” Amari walked over to one of the memory pods, wheeling a chair beside it. “Just sit down.”

Nick laughed nervously. “If I start cackling like an old grizzled alpha mercenary, pull me out, okay?” It was only a half joke, Nora was sure.

“Let’s see here.” Nick sat down in the chair, and for a couple seconds the doctor fiddled with the back of his head before speaking again. “I need you to keep talking to me, Mister Valentine. Any slight change in your cognitive functions could be dire.”

Nora raised an eyebrow. “Is it possible you could change… his secondary gender, per say?”

If Nick had skin, it would’ve paled. “That’s not possible, is it? Please tell me it’s not. I would _really_ prefer to not have to go through heats. Would I have to do that? Could I turn them off somehow?’’

Amari chuckled. “No, nothing I’m doing back here could change that.”

Nora laughed, and would’ve elbowed him if she wasn’t afraid it might damage what Amari was doing. “You’re a lucky guy.”

Amari straightened up, the mood suddenly serious. “Are you feeling any different?”

“There’s a lot of flashes… static… I can’t make any sense of it, doc.” He looked strained, and Nora gulped. She hated putting her favorite alpha through this, but he had volunteered, and she needed to find her son.

“That’s what I was afraid of. The mnemonic impressions are encoded.” Her hands dropped from his head. “It appears the Institute has one last fail safe. There’s a lock on the memories in the implant.”

Nora quickly walked over to the omega, pushing down the wave of anxiety and fear that threatened to overwhelm her. “Tell me you have a way past this, doctor.”

“Let me think.” Nora could practically see the gears churning in her head. “The encryption is too strong for a single mind. But… what if we used two?” Eyes bore into Nora’s. “We load both you and Mister Valentine into the memory loungers. Run your cognitive functions in parallel. He’ll act as a host while your consciousness drives through whatever memories we can find.”

Bile rose in Nora’s throat at the idea of delving into the memories of the mind of the alpha who killed her husband, but she swallowed it down. “Any idea what I’m going to see in there?” Nora was impressed that she managed to hold her own voice steady.

“I have no clue, but considering we only have a single piece of the medial temporal lobe, and not the whole brain, I’ll doubt it’ll be… cohesive.”

With a sigh of defeat, Nora gave in. “All right. Let’s get started.” Nora shuffled off her pack and dropped it onto the counter.

“Just sit down over there.” She gestured with a wave of her hand to an empty memory pod. “And… keep your fingers crossed.”

Nick glanced at her.“See you on the other side.” Nora gulped and gave the alpha a quick hug, not giving him the time to refuse or accept the hug before rapidly pulling away and brushing herself off in a fit of embarrassment. He gave her a soft smile, and it calmed Nora down. Walking over to a pod, she sat down in the rather comfortable seat and let unknown memories overtake her.

 

When Nora emerged, she wasn’t sure how to feel. She had seen Kellog’s whole life laid bare, and what had made him into the alpha she killed. His terrible omega mother, and his poor beta wife… Yet she still felt fury burn through her. This was the man that had killed her alpha and kidnapped her son. While he may not have deserved to die, he certainly didn’t deserve her respect, let alone her pity. And she had learned so much. Nora had to admit it had pained her to see Shaun. He had already grown so much, but she hadn’t been there to see it. But now they knew how to get inside the Institute. This would be a major game changer. She actually had a real shot at getting her son back from those bastards.  


Amari’s voice jogged her back from her groggy state. “Slow movements, okay? I don’t know what side effects the procedure might have had. No one’s ever… done this before.” She cleared her throat. “How do you feel?”

“Am I okay? Are you seeing anything bad?” Nora couldn’t keep a hint of panic from entering her voice.

“Don’t be alarmed, but I honestly don’t know what to look for. As I’ve said before, this is uncharted territory. But your neural and psychological readings have returned to normal. Your hormones are as high as ever. From a medical standpoint, you’re fine. Are you.. ready to talk about what happened in there?”

“I saw Kellog’s life… The man who ruined my family… The man I killed.”

“That’s right. He was a human being just like the rest of us, and he had reasons for being what he was, however cruel. How does that… make you feel?” They inquired.

Nora couldn’t hold back the sigh that escaped from her throat. “Does it really matter how I feel, doctor?”

“Yes.” She pushed. “You can’t tell me that bearing witness to that alpha’s life didn’t affect you.” The omega shook her head with a sense of impatience. “We’re getting off track. The important thing is that we discovered the Institute’s greatest secret. Teleportation. The only question is, what do we do now?”

Nora pondered this. What _should_ they do? They had no other leads, beside that scientist that had been mentioned. “That scientist that Kellogg was supposed to track down. Virgil. We need to find him.”

“You’re right! A rouge Institute scientist could answer all kinds of questions. Where did the memory say he was? The Glowing Sea?” She shook her head. “That doesn’t make sense. No one goes there. Not even if they were desperate.”

“Why? What makes the Glowing Sea so dangerous?”

The omega shuddered. “The name says it all. Radiation. So much that nothing could possibly. Nothing… pleasant.”

They discussed the different ways of how he could live there, and how Nora would survive going in there without becoming a green light bulb, although all Nora wanted to do was collapse on a bed or a couch, hell even the ground and sleep. Finally, their conversation seemed to come to an end. “By the way, I unplugged Mister Valentine first. Removed the implant while you were waking up. He’s waiting for you upstairs.” Nora gave her a begrudging smile and padded up the stairs.

The smile turned into a real one when she saw Nick waiting patiently for her on one of the couches. She opened her mouth to thank him for he’d done, for how dear a friend he was to her.

“Hope you got what you were looking for inside my head. Heh. I was right. Should’ve killed you when you were on ice.” Kellogg’s cold voice sprang at her from Nick’s mouth, and Nora felt a deep chill settle inside her at the sight of him. She couldn’t do this. Oh god, she knew it was brief, but just hearing his voice again made her tense up in anger and pity and grief. And now he was speaking to her through Nick’s mouth. She needed to leave, to get away from Nick. Now.

“Nora? What’s wrong? Why are you crying?” Nick’s concerned voice reached her ears, and Nora touched below her eyes and felt a wetness there. But she had to stop traveling with her best friend, at least for a while. She couldn’t stand to be near him, not while there was a chance that murderer might still be hanging around in his head.

“Nick, I’m sorry, I need to leave, you head back to Sanctuary.” She blurted it out, and she saw Nick’s face twist in confusion and hurt. But before he could ask her what was wrong, even open his mouth, the omega had fled from the building, desperate to find comfort, to find a pleasing scent, not one of motor oil, and unknown to Nora herself, to find that delicious smell that had reached her nostrils when she had first arrived.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hancock smelled her before he heard her. It wasn't as shocking as before, as he'd already smelled her now, but it still sent shivers down his spine and made him lick his lips appreciatively. Sadly for him, Fahrenheit noticed, and her eyes narrowed to slits. "Be cool, Hancock."

Nora felt bad about abandoning Nick. She did, really. She just needed some time off, and then she would be traveling with him again. But for now, she just seemed to be wandering around Goodneighbor. At least, that's what it seemed like at first, but then she noticed her feet seem to be taking her somewhere in particular. It's only when she entered the building did an absolutely delicious scent enter her nostrils and made her stop.  _ Ah. This is the mayor's residence. _

To be honest, it was a little annoying how good he smelt to her. Her body wanted to go in a direction she didn’t, and she wished that she was able to choose who her body felt attracted to. But Hancock just smells so good it makes her squirm. Even Nate didn't smell this good, but Nate smelled nice and like comfort and home and Hancock's scent was sharp and new and just drew her in. For the time being, she decided to try to ignore it. And, as she headed up the steps, it seemed like she was failing.

\--

Hancock smelled her before he heard her. It wasn't as shocking as before, as he'd already smelled her now, but it still sent shivers down his spine and made him lick his lips appreciatively. Sadly for him, Fahrenheit noticed, and her eyes narrowed to slits. "Be cool, Hancock." 

Embarrassed, he sunk his back deeper into the couch and took a drag from the cigarette in his hand. "As if I'd be anything else." Whatever her retort would've been died in her throat as the omega entered the room. Shit, he didn't even know her name. He  _ needed  _ to know her name.

"Welcome to the mayor's residence, sister. Something' bother you, miss...?"

"Nora. My name's Nora. Um, do you have any work for me?"

Taking a moment to—what he hoped was subtly—drink in her scent, he took another drag before responding. "Yeah, I got something for you to do. There's this place, Pickman Gallery. I sent a small team over to check it out  but they haven't come back. I need you to head over there and scout the place out, you feel? I'll give you... let's say 150."

Nora hummed. "One-fifty for a scouting job? Deal." Oh god, she smelled so good and was so close it was only his years of practicing willpower that kept him from leaping up from the couch and violently ravishing her. Thankfully, even if he hadn't been able to, Fahrenheit would've helped him back. Still, it was a scary thought, and Hancock's guilt of how delectable she smelled to him helped hold him back. Fuck, if he could find some way to proposition her... 

Shit, she was expecting a response from him, wasn't she? "Sounds good. I'll pay ya when you get back."

Nodding, she exited the room without saying anything else. Hancock waited until the steps receded and he heard the door shut before taking a heaving breath in, drawing in the heavy remains of her scent and nearly moaning at how damn good she tasted. Turning to Fahrenheit, he felt smug to see her eyes glazed off slightly. "She smells good, yeah." His bodyguard confessed. "But you seem a little more into her then her scent warrants."

"I swear she's the best scent I've ever caught whiff of." he proclaimed. "Definitely the best omega scent, at the very least. But, hey, wasn't she traveling with Nick?"

Fahrenheit frowned. "Yeah, she was. What do you think happened to him?" 

Hancock shrugged and took a final drag from his cigarette. "No idea."

\--

God, he'd smelled even better when she was that close to him. Like the earth after rain and chocolate and the dark, sharp scent of the ocean on a stormy night. Not that she's ever smelled the ocean on a stormy night, mind you. But what was it about him? Why did he smell so good to her? It wasn't like he was a special alpha or anything.

Sighing, she checked her Pip-Boy— _ ah yes, sexism, my favorite _ —for the time. Finding it was early enough in the day that she could walk to and scout out Pickman's gallery right now, she decided to head on over right now.

_ Oh god is that blood oh fuck that's a painting made out of blood who the fuck did this oh my fuck _ —

She cleared the building of raiders and found a hole in the wall that seemed to lead deeper into the building, but had already thrown up twice and didn't have the strength to go on. Practically sprinting back to Goodneighbor so she wouldn't have to camp in the dark after that, she let out a sigh of relief when she made it back to the town. Daisy, a ghoul beta storekeeper who she'd talked to briefly, looked at her questioningly. "You alright, girly?"

Not bothering to respond for fear the words would come tumbling out like an avalanche, she pressed on. Stumbling into the Old State House, she barely made it up the stairs before she had to lean against a wall. Hancock and his—bodyguard? Lover?— were now standing and approaching her with worried looks on their faces. "You alright, Nora?" Hancock asked, and it was disturbing how much his scent helped her calm down.

"Did you know?" There was no way, but she had to check. It was too disturbing not too, and despite how her body felt she'd seen him murder someone in the first minute she saw him.

"Know what?"

"There's blood. So much blood. There's paintings. With blood."

Suddenly she noticed that his eyes were glazed over, and he was swaying on his feet, and she wanted to laugh. He was high. The mayor was high, and she'd been the one who just saw the most disturbing thing ever in her very, very short amount of time she'd spent in the Commonwealth.

Lucking, his companion was not, and she helped Nora up from the ground— it didn't escape her notice that she inhaled sharply a little—. "Sorry you had to see that. I'm assuming you don't have a place to stay tonight?"  Nora shook her head. "You can stay here for the night. Lots of people do in the attic. Hancock will pay you in the morning." Still in shock, Nora allowed herself to be gently led upstairs by the kind beta, but the moment they reached a collection of mattress the redhead withdraw her arm like touching Nora stung her. "Sorry about that. Your scent is really appealing." She grinned. "How do you feel about chess?"

"Haven't played in years." The sudden change of topic was a nice distraction from what she'd seen, but the women before her retreated back to the room, leaving Nora alone with her thoughts. And of course, having Hancock's scent nearby unwilling relaxed her muscles and calmed her mind. She'd reacted so strongly to the paintings, understandably, but there'd been serial killers 200 years ago as well. It was more the shock that even now, people still did things like that. It seemed to follow some sort of old omega stereotype, though, that omegas were easily frightened and quick to flee.

Next time, she'd be ready.

But for now? She allowed herself to inhale that absolutely wonderful scent, pushed thoughts of how she was betraying Nate from her mind—thoughts she hadn't even realized she had until now—, and even though it was barely dark, crashed down onto a mattress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no excuse for not updating for over a year :/ but this work isn't dead! Hope y'all enjoy this chapter. I know it's shorter than the others, but I didn't want to wait any longer before posting.
> 
> P.S. I read every single comment, even if it's just 'you could've done worse, I guess.' The only reason I don't respond to them all is because I know some people sort works by comment number. Thank you for giving my fic read, whether or not you comment!


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